Author: Taylor Warfield, Former Bain Manager and interviewer

Last Updated: October 23, 2026

 

The Baker Tilly consulting interview is a three round behavioral process that takes about 15 days from first screen to offer and includes no case interview. This guide covers each round, the questions candidates actually get asked, current pay ranges, and how the Moss Adams merger changed what interviewers look for.

 

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Key Takeaways

 

Baker Tilly runs a behavioral interview process, not a case interview process, and the candidates who win offers are the ones with tight, specific stories about real work.

 

• Three rounds: a recruiter screen, then two client service professionals, then a director and partner conversation

 

• Interviews are virtual, and the firm confirms you will meet a campus recruiter plus two client service delivery professionals

 

• No formal case interview, but the later rounds use job scenario questions

 

• Difficulty rates 2.7 out of 5 for consultant roles, with 78% of candidates describing the experience as positive

 

• The process averages 15 days for consultants and 21 days for interns

 

• Consultants report $86,000 to $126,000 in total pay, with posted senior consultant ranges reaching $162,890

 

What Is the Baker Tilly Consulting Interview Process?

 

The Baker Tilly consulting interview process has three rounds: a 15 to 30 minute recruiter screen, a round with two client service professionals, and a final conversation with a director and a partner. All interviews are virtual, and every round is behavioral rather than case based. The firm confirms candidates meet a campus recruiter plus two client service delivery professionals.

 

That structure holds across consultant, senior consultant, and intern roles. What changes by level is who sits in the final round and how much the questions lean on your actual client work.

 

Round	Who you meet	Length	What they test
Screen	Recruiter or campus recruiting team member	15 to 30 min	Motivation, firm knowledge, resume walkthrough, logistics such as location and work authorization
Round two	Two client service professionals, often a senior associate and a senior manager	15 to 30 min each	Behavioral stories on teamwork, conflict, integrity, and problem solving
Final	Director and partner	30 to 45 min	Job scenario questions, client judgment, and whether you fit the practice

 

Source: Baker Tilly early careers guidance and candidate reports on Glassdoor as of August 2026.

 

Round 1: The recruiter or campus screen

 

The first round is a short call with a recruiter that most candidates describe as easy. Expect questions about yourself, what you know about the firm, and which activities and roles you have taken on. It is a filter for basic fit and logistics, not a test.

 

Do not treat it as a formality. The single most common reason candidates get cut here is a vague answer to what they know about Baker Tilly, and that answer is entirely within your control.

 

Round 2: Interviews with client service professionals

 

Round two is usually split between two people who do the work you are applying to do. Candidates describe a 15 minute conversation with a senior manager paired with a 20 minute conversation with a senior associate, both virtual and both almost entirely behavioral. This is where your behavioral stories carry the round.

 

Interviewers here are checking one thing above all: can you explain what you did, why you did it, and what happened, without rambling. Candidates who ramble in round two rarely reach the partner.

 

Round 3: The director and partner conversation

 

The final round is where the questions shift from your past to hypothetical work situations. Candidates who reached this stage describe director and partner interviews built around on the job scenario questions rather than more resume stories. Offers can move fast, and one candidate reported receiving an offer the next business day after the partner round.

 

A scenario question sounds like this. "You are three days from a client deliverable and you find an error in the data your manager already presented. What do you do?"

 

Answer it the way a consultant would: state the immediate action, name the tradeoff, and say who you would tell and when. Partners are not looking for a clever answer, they are checking whether you escalate honestly and early.

 

Does Baker Tilly Ask Case Interview Questions?

 

No. Baker Tilly does not run a formal case interview for its US consulting roles. Candidate reports across consultant, staff consultant, and intern positions describe behavioral questions only, with one consultant noting that no technical or case related questions came up at all.

 

This matters because plenty of prep content wrongly tells candidates to expect case style interviews at Baker Tilly. Preparing frameworks and market sizing for this firm is wasted effort, and worse, it crowds out the preparation that actually decides the outcome.

 

Baker Tilly's own guidance backs this up. The firm tells candidates to prepare by identifying situations where they demonstrated strengths, faced challenges, and solved problems, and to give background concisely and truthfully. That is behavioral interview prep, described in the firm's own words on its early careers page.

 

One caveat worth taking seriously. The absence of a case does not mean the absence of business thinking, because the director and partner rounds use scenario questions that reward the same structured judgment a case would.

 

Having coached hundreds of candidates through both formats, the pattern I see is consistent: people who have practiced structured thinking answer scenario questions noticeably better, even when no framework is ever requested. If you are also recruiting at firms that do case, my case interview course gets you to a top 10% level in about 7 days.

 

How Did the Moss Adams Merger Change Baker Tilly Recruiting?

 

Baker Tilly and Moss Adams completed a $7 billion combination on June 3, 2025, creating the sixth largest advisory CPA firm in the United States. The combined firm operates under the Baker Tilly name with roughly 11,000 people and about $3.5 billion in revenue, according to leadership interviews at the time of close. Eric Miles, formerly the CEO of Moss Adams, took over as CEO on January 1, 2026.

 

Three things changed for candidates.

 

1. Two legal entities: audit sits in Baker Tilly US, LLP and consulting sits in Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP, so your offer letter and job posting will name the advisory entity if you are joining consulting
   
   
2. Private equity ownership: Hellman & Friedman and Valeas Capital Partners both hold stakes, which makes this the largest private equity backed accounting firm in the country
   
   
3. Wider geography: the West Coast footprint that came with the combination opened offices and practice groups that did not exist under either firm alone

 

Bring this up in your interview. Almost no candidate does, and mentioning the entity structure or the private equity backing signals that you researched the firm as it exists today rather than as it existed three years ago. You can read the firm's own framing on its combination page.

 

What Consulting Roles Does Baker Tilly Hire For?

 

Baker Tilly hires consultants across four broad groups: consulting, risk advisory, digital solutions, and transactions. The firm describes itself as a top 10 advisory, tax, and assurance firm serving the middle market across more than 30 industry sectors. Knowing which group you applied to changes how you should answer the scenario questions.

 

• Consulting: CFO advisory, healthcare consulting, human capital, government contracting, forensic accounting, and municipal advisory

 

• Risk advisory: internal audit, cybersecurity, enterprise risk management, IT audit, and regulatory compliance

 

• Digital solutions: enterprise systems, data analytics, digital strategy, application development, and intelligent automation

 

• Transactions: due diligence, valuation, mergers and acquisitions, and strategy and management consulting

 

The public sector work is a genuine strength here and a common landing spot for early career consultants. Baker Tilly's development advisory and municipal advisory teams serve state and local governments, tribes, and nonprofits, so candidates targeting public sector consulting should say so directly in the screen. The full service list sits on the firm's consulting page.

 

What Are the Most Common Baker Tilly Interview Questions?

 

Baker Tilly interview questions fall into three groups: motivation questions about the firm and the role, behavioral questions about past situations, and scenario questions about hypothetical client work. The questions below are drawn from candidate reports across consultant, staff consultant, and intern interviews.

 

Motivation questions

 

• Why Baker Tilly?

 

• Why consulting, and what makes you confident you would succeed in this role?

 

• What do you know about Baker Tilly?

 

• What are you hoping to achieve in this internship?

 

• What is your area of interest within advisory?

 

The why consulting question shows up in nearly every consultant interview, and it is scored more harshly than candidates expect. A generic answer about liking problem solving reads as a candidate who applied to 40 firms.

 

Behavioral questions

 

• Tell me about a time you dealt with a difficult team member

 

• Describe a situation where you did not get along with your coworkers

 

• Tell me about a time when you demonstrated integrity

 

• Tell me about a time you solved a difficult problem on a team

 

• Tell me about a time you dealt with change at work

 

• What are your strengths and weaknesses?

 

• What do you think is the difference between a professional and a student?

 

Two of those questions ask about interpersonal friction, which is unusually heavy for a firm this size. Prepare a real conflict question story where you were partly at fault and you fixed it, because sanitized answers where the other person was simply unreasonable land badly with partners.

 

Scenario questions

 

• What are the three most important things to focus on when starting a new role?

 

• How do you handle change in a fast paced work environment?

 

• How would you approach a client who disagrees with your recommendation?

 

• You are staffed on two projects with competing deadlines. How do you decide what to do?

 

How to answer "Why Baker Tilly?"

 

This is the question that separates offers from rejections at the screen. The answer needs one firm specific fact, one connection to your background, and one forward looking reason. Anything else is filler.

 

Q: Why Baker Tilly?

 

A: "Two reasons. First, the middle market focus. After the Moss Adams combination the firm has national scale but still runs lean engagement teams, which means I would be in front of clients in year one instead of year three."

 

"Second, the public sector practice. I spent a summer doing grant compliance work for a county health department, and Baker Tilly's development advisory team does that work at a scale I could not get anywhere else."

 

Notice what that answer does not do. It does not praise the culture, it does not say the people seemed nice, and it does not recycle language from the careers page.

 

Every story you tell should follow the STAR method so the interviewer can follow your reasoning without asking clarifying questions. Two minutes per answer is the ceiling.

 

How Hard Is the Baker Tilly Consulting Interview?

 

The Baker Tilly consulting interview is moderately difficult. Candidates rate it 2.7 out of 5 for consultant roles and 2.62 out of 5 across all roles on Glassdoor, based on 537 interview reports as of August 2026. That sits well below what candidates report at firms running case interviews, and 78% of consultant candidates describe the experience as positive.

 

Metric	Consultant	Intern	All roles
Difficulty rating	2.7 / 5	2.9 / 5	2.62 / 5
Positive experience	78%	77%	68.4%
Average days to hire	15	21	18
Interview reports	79	55	537

 

Source: Glassdoor interview data, updated August 26, 2026.

 

The harder part is getting the interview, not passing it. Half of candidates reached the firm by applying online and 30% came through campus recruiting, which leaves referrals and recruiters accounting for only 16% combined.

 

That last number is the opportunity. Because so few Baker Tilly candidates use consulting referrals, a single warm introduction moves you further here than it would at a firm where everyone has one.

 

What Is the Baker Tilly Recruiting Timeline?

 

Baker Tilly posts internship roles from January through April for spring recruiting and August through November for fall recruiting. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis by office and service line, so applying in the first two weeks of a window matters more than the posted deadline. Summer internships run mid June through mid August and winter internships run January through mid April.

 

Two rules the firm states plainly and candidates ignore anyway.

 

• Apply to one posting only: Baker Tilly asks candidates to submit a single application and discuss other interests during the first interview

 

• Every application is read by a person: the firm confirms it does not use AI to review applications, which means a tailored consulting resume is read rather than keyword filtered

 

The firm also runs virtual campus recruiting sessions covering its process, timeline, and application tips. Attending one and referencing it later is a cheap, verifiable signal of interest that most applicants skip. Fall recruiting timelines vary by market, so ask your regional campus team directly rather than assuming your school's calendar applies.

 

How Much Does Baker Tilly Pay Consultants?

 

Baker Tilly consultants report total pay between $86,000 and $126,000 per year, based on 176 salaries submitted to Glassdoor as of July 2026. Pay varies more by practice than by title, with digital and transformation roles at the top of the range and public sector roles at the bottom.

 

Role	Total pay range	Salaries reported
Consulting intern	$27 to $35 per hour	Estimate
Entry level consultant	$59,000 to $94,000	1
Associate consultant	$80,000 to $98,000	13
Risk advisory consultant	$84,000 to $103,000	25
Consultant	$86,000 to $126,000	176
Senior risk advisory consultant	$100,000 to $130,000	2

 

Source: Glassdoor Baker Tilly salary data, 2026. Bonuses run roughly 4% to 6% of total pay across these roles.

 

Posted job ranges give you a firmer negotiating anchor than crowdsourced averages. Baker Tilly job listings in 2026 have advertised $80,500 to $113,760 for an IT audit and cybersecurity risk advisory consultant, $84,500 to $133,300 for a GAAP senior consultant in the public sector group, and $85,910 to $162,890 for a transformation senior consultant in digital solutions.

 

Those numbers sit below what the largest firms pay at the same title, which is the honest tradeoff. Candidates weighing an offer here against Big 4 consulting salaries are usually trading some cash for earlier client exposure and smaller teams.

 

One benefit worth naming because it is unusually generous: Baker Tilly pays a $10,000 bonus for passing all four CPA exam sections before your full time start date, or $5,000 for passing within two years of starting. Full time associates also get up to 160 hours of paid time off to study and sit for the exams.

 

How Should You Prepare for the Baker Tilly Consulting Interview?

 

Preparation here is narrow and deep. You need roughly six polished stories, one sharp firm specific answer, and enough practice speaking them aloud that they run under two minutes each. That is the whole job.

 

Because every round is behavioral, this is one of the few consulting processes where fit preparation alone decides the outcome. My fit interview course covers 98% of the questions you will face in a few hours.

 

Tip #1: Build six stories, not twenty

 

Cover teamwork, conflict, integrity, problem solving, leadership, and failure. Those six categories map to almost every reported Baker Tilly question, and each story should be reusable across two or three prompts.

 

Tip #2: Write an integrity story before anything else

 

Integrity is one of Baker Tilly's stated values and it appears verbatim in candidate reported questions. Most people have never prepared this one, so they improvise a weak example about returning extra change.

 

Pick a moment where being honest actually cost you something: a mistake you reported, a shortcut you refused, a number you corrected after it had already been shared.

 

Tip #3: Name the practice group you want

 

Baker Tilly recruits by office and service line, and its advisory recruiting team is separate from its audit and tax teams. Saying "risk advisory, specifically internal audit for healthcare clients" is worth more than any general enthusiasm.

 

Tip #4: Prepare for the interpersonal friction questions

 

Two of the most frequently reported questions ask about difficult teammates and coworkers you did not get along with. Answer with what you changed in your own behavior, and end on the working relationship you rebuilt.

 

Tip #5: Practice scenario answers out loud

 

Director and partner rounds run on hypotheticals, and hypotheticals are where unprepared candidates ramble. Answer in three beats: what you do first, what tradeoff you are making, and who you tell. Thirty to sixty seconds is plenty.

 

Tip #6: Bring three questions of your own

 

The firm explicitly tells candidates to bring thoughtful questions, which means silence at the end is a scored miss rather than a neutral one. Strong questions to ask in a consulting interview focus on staffing, client mix, and how the merger changed the team's work.

 

Tip #7: Send a same day thank you note

 

Offers here can arrive within one business day of the partner round, so a note sent two days later arrives after the decision. Write your consulting interview thank you email the same afternoon and reference one specific thing the interviewer said.

 

In my experience at Bain, the candidates who converted final rounds were rarely the most impressive on paper. They were the ones who had rehearsed their stories enough to sound relaxed, and that is exactly the edge the Baker Tilly consulting interview rewards. Build your six stories, sharpen your reason for choosing this firm over the alternatives, and practice them out loud until the delivery stops feeling like a recital.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Does Baker Tilly ask case interview questions?

 

No. Baker Tilly does not run a formal case interview for its consulting roles. Candidates across consultant, senior consultant, and intern positions consistently report behavioral questions only. You should still expect job scenario questions in the director and partner rounds, which ask how you would handle a realistic client or team situation rather than asking you to size a market or build a framework.

 

How long does the Baker Tilly interview process take?

 

The Baker Tilly hiring process averages 18 days across all roles, based on 537 Glassdoor interview reports as of August 2026. Consultant roles move faster at an average of 15 days. Campus and internship candidates take longer, averaging 21 days, because applications are reviewed on a rolling basis by office and service line.

 

Is it hard to get a job at Baker Tilly consulting?

 

Baker Tilly is moderately difficult. Candidates rate the interview difficulty at 2.62 out of 5 overall and 2.7 out of 5 for consultant roles on Glassdoor, well below what candidates report at strategy firms that run case interviews. The bar is on fit, communication, and specific examples rather than analytical problem solving under pressure.

 

What GPA do you need for Baker Tilly?

 

Baker Tilly early career postings have listed a preferred GPA of 3.0 or above, and the firm states that outstanding academic performance is required. GPA is a preference rather than a hard cutoff, so strong internship experience, leadership roles, and a clear reason for choosing the firm can offset a GPA slightly below that line.

 

How much does Baker Tilly pay consultants?

 

Baker Tilly consultants report total pay of roughly $86,000 to $126,000 per year on Glassdoor as of July 2026, based on 176 submitted salaries. Risk advisory consultants report $84,000 to $103,000 and associate consultants report $80,000 to $98,000. Posted job ranges for senior consultant roles in 2026 have run from about $84,500 to $162,890 depending on practice and location.

 

Does Baker Tilly sponsor visas for consulting roles?

 

Baker Tilly states that sponsorship is not available for early career opportunities. Internship candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship, and associate and consultant candidates must be authorized to work on a full time basis. Experienced hire roles vary, so confirm sponsorship with the recruiter before you invest time in the process.

 

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